Former referee Dermot Gallagher had little sympathy for Alexandro Bernabei after he had a penalty given against him.
The Celtic defender was penalised after a VAR check during the champions’ Scottish Premiership victory over Dundee United on Saturday. Steven Fletcher rose to head a cross towards goal, only to see the ball strike the Argentine on the arm. The left back wasn’t facing the ball at the time and neither Fletcher nor his teammates made any appeal for a spot kick.
But the VAR asked whistler David Dickinson to review the decision and he headed over the monitor on the Parkhead touchline for another look. After seeing it again, he returned to the pitch and pointed to the spot, much to the fury of the majority inside Celtic Park. Fletcher took the spot kick himself and scored to make it 1-1 after 12 minutes following Sead Haksabanovic’s opener for the hosts.
Ange Postecoglou said afterwards that he couldn’t understand what was and wasn’t a handball in the officials’ eyes any more, after claiming his side were denied a similar shout in a win away at Hearts. The Aussie was adamant that Bernabei couldn’t be making himself unnaturally bigger because he wasn’t even looking at the ball.
But Gallagher was short and sweet on Sky Sports’ Ref Watch segment. He wasn’t even up for a debate on the call, citing Dan Burn’s penalty conceded for Newcastle against Brentford last month.
“The player will say he’s got his back to the ball,” Gallagher told Sky Sports. “But we saw with Dan Burn the other week, if you arm is up that high and the ball strikes you in the box coming back across the goal, the referees have been consistent on this; they give handball."
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